Hyundai Discontinues the Veloster in the UK; Will the US Be Next?

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Quirky apparently doesn't sell well in Her Majesty's kingdom.

Three years after it was launched in the UK, Hyundai has discontinued the Veloster for that market. Auto Express confirmed the news simply by checking the Hyundai UK website; there’s no mention of a 2015 Veloster. This should hardly come as a surprise, considering the Veloster has underperformed sales wise in the US as well. Last summer we reported that the three-door hatchback sold only around 60,000 units globally in 2013, with just over half of those in North America.

But Hyundai is still pressing ahead with a major Veloster refresh that’ll see a redesigned front-end, revised interior, and several other updates. The introduction of the Veloster Turbo, with its 184 horsepower four banger in 2012 certainly helped sales, but in the UK hot hatches are quite popular. The Veloster Turbo simply couldn’t steal enough sales away from the Volkswagen Sirocco and Vauxhall Astra GTC. Obviously both of those aren’t available in the US, but even in that market the Veloster Turbo is still facing the VW Golf GTI and the Ford Focus ST. Unless the upcoming refresh adds more power and refinement, the Veloster may not have a future anywhere.